


You Would Share Him

by ama



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe, Bible, Collection: Purimgifts Day 1, F/M, Gen, Other, Polygamy, Sisters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-15
Updated: 2016-03-15
Packaged: 2018-05-26 23:12:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6259900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ama/pseuds/ama
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two sisters in love with the same man. It's a four-thousand-year-old story, and sometimes it does have a happy ending.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Would Share Him

**Author's Note:**

  * For [csichick_2](https://archiveofourown.org/users/csichick_2/gifts).



> Since this is a challenge celebrating Jewish women, I thought it'd be fun to look at Angelica and Eliza as a spin on Rachel and Leah. It felt odd to keep the newer names in the biblical time period; Elizabeth very easily became Elisheva, for Angelica I've used Ayla (which is also spelled Elah, and can be rearranged as Leah), and Alexander becomes Akiba (a variation of Yakob/Jacob).
> 
> The image is a still from the movie version of Anita Diamont's Red Tent. I know it's not GOOD photoshop, but it's pretty much the most complex thing I've ever done, soooo.

“I am simply saying that if you truly loved me, dear sister, you would share him,” Ayla said teasingly, with a light laugh.

Her hands kept up their careful work, brushing Elisheva’s hair and tying it into an elegant pattern. Elisheva, personally, thought it was a bit ridiculous--her hair would be hidden by her bridal veil anyway--but she was glad, because it meant that her sister couldn’t see the blush that flooded her cheeks.

She let out a huff of breath so that Ayla knew she wasn’t angry, but her heart was racing. She had been on edge all morning and the day before as well. It was her wedding day. Everything she knew was changing, and part of her soul was barrelling forward at full speed--and part of it had doubts.

“Ayla,” she said slowly.

“Yes, yes, I’m almost done.”

“No, not that. I--I have a question.”

“Hm?”

For a moment, the words stuck like a fishbone in her throat; she was almost embarrassed to as, because the request seemed clumsy, like a child’s. But then Elisheva took a deep breath and turned around, tugging her braids out of her sister’s reach.

“Will you share him?” she asked.

A laugh bubbled in Ayla’s throat and her head tilted quizzically, as if it were an unexpected joke. Elisheva swallowed, the blush remaining on her face, and after a moment her sister’s face softened. She looked down and took Elisheva’s hands in hers, and looked up again with a sweet smile on her face and solemnity resting in her dark eyes.

“Elisheva, no. I know what Father wanted, what everyone expected, but I don’t  _ care _ . I would never ask you to sacrifice your own happiness just because I am the eldest--and Akiba wants to marry you, not me.”

“I don’t think he would mind either way,” Elisheva muttered.

She kept her eyes trained on her sister, who in turn was looking at the bedspread between them. Elisheva knew her sister was beautiful, with her skin the color of burnished copper, her curly hair tumbling down her back, her eyes that flashed as quickly as her tongue. It was a foolish man who did  _ not _ fall in love with Ayla, and Akiba was no fool.

But  _ she  _ had met him first. And he had fallen in love with her, too, had asked for  _ her  _ hand in marriage, and in the end wasn’t that all that mattered? Their father had wanted him to marry Ayla, of course, but from the first moment, Ayla had stood firm, insisting that she would not marry Akiba, would not usurp her sister, could see no earthly reason why she would ever desire to do so.

And Elisheva had mostly believed her. She had had her suspicions, but she dismissed them, because she wasn’t  _ sure _ . At least, she hadn’t been, until she had heard the note of wistfulness that breezed through her sister’s casual joke. Until she saw the way that Ayla closed her eyes and caught her lower lip between her teeth before she looked up again.

“Akiba loves you, I am sure of that. It is  _ your _ wedding day, Elisha,” she murmured. She cupped her sister’s cheek and smiled. “Think of your groom and your own happiness, and do not worry of anything else. I can handle Father.”

“I am not thinking of Father!” Elisheva cried impatiently. She stood and stepped back from the bed, unfamiliar jewelry clanking at her wrists. “Ayla, I  _ am _ thinking of my happiness, and Akiba’s, and yours. I have seen the way he looks at you--I have always seen it. It is the way men  _ always  _ look at you. But for the first time, you have found someone who can measure up to you, someone who you can love back. You love him, Ayla, don’t you? You have tried to hide it, I have seen you turn away, but I know my own sister.”

“Elisha, I would never-- Akiba would not--”

“I know. You would not shame me, but I am not ashamed. For me, it is enough to know that Akiba would choose to love me, even in your shadow. But if he need not make a choice…” She let the words trail off, and Ayla’s eyes widened. Elisheva’s heart began to pound. The foolish idea she had been wrestling with seemed less foolish in the face of her sister’s wonder. “He is a clever, kind, determined young man with God’s blessing upon him. What is to stop him from taking two wives? From loving us both?”

“You--you would really want to?” she asked, fumbling over the words. “This isn’t--dearest, you aren’t thinking of me or him or Father, are you? You would really want this for  _ yourself _ ?”

“Yes,” Elisheva said earnestly. “For me, for you, and for him. For our happiness, I would do this.”

As she watched, the disbelief faded from her sister’s face, replaced with a smile that suffused her entire face.

“Elisha--” she began. The word broke into a burst of laughter, and she leapt from the bed and crashed into Elisheva and spun the two of them around in a tight circle. Elisheva laughed, too, with pure girlish delight at the fact that her sister was happy. Her heart felt light.

“Our wedding day, Elisha! You and I forever sisters of the same house, with no foolish men to separate us--you agree, don’t you, that we shall have Akiba at our beck and call for eternity?”

“Of course, of course,” Elisheva giggled. “But no-- _ your _ wedding day, Ayla. Don’t protest, don’t protest, this dress has always looked wretched on me and much better on you, anyway. Here, take it, and during your bridal week I’ll bully Father into getting me one in a nicer color. Besides, I fully expect to be the sole bride at my wedding, and I think I deserve that. And won’t it be fun to see our new husband’s face when he realizes what he has gotten into?”

[ ](http://s621.photobucket.com/user/amaXdear/media/rachel%20and%20lea.jpg.html)


End file.
